counterfeit
Americanadjective
noun
-
counterfeits
plural
-
an imitation intended to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; forgery.
- Synonyms:
- sham, falsification
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Archaic. a copy.
-
Archaic. a close likeness; portrait.
-
Obsolete. impostor; pretender.
verb (used with object)
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counterfeits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
counterfeited,
past participle, past
-
counterfeiting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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counterfeits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
counterfeited,
past participle, past
-
counterfeiting
present participle
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to make counterfeits, as of money.
-
to feign; dissemble.
adjective
-
made in imitation of something genuine with the intent to deceive or defraud; forged
-
simulated; sham
counterfeit affection
noun
-
an imitation designed to deceive or defraud
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archaic an impostor; cheat
verb
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(tr) to make a fraudulent imitation of
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(intr) to make counterfeits
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to feign; simulate
-
(tr) to imitate; copy
Synonym Usage
See false.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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counterfeiternoun
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counterfeitnessnoun
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noncounterfeitadjective
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uncounterfeitedadjective
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counterfeitlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
counterfeitsimple
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counterfeitssimple
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have counterfeitedperfect
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has counterfeitedperfect
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am counterfeitingprogressive
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are counterfeitingprogressive
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is counterfeitingprogressive
-
have been counterfeitingperfect progressive
-
has been counterfeitingperfect progressive
Past
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counterfeitedsimple
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had counterfeitedperfect
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was counterfeitingprogressive
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were counterfeitingprogressive
-
had been counterfeitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of counterfeit
First recorded in 1250–1300; (adjective) Middle English countrefet “false, forged,” from Anglo-French cuntrefet, Old French contrefait, contrefet, past participle of contrefaire, contrefere “to copy, imitate,” equivalent to conter- counter- + fere “to make, do,” ultimately from Latin facere ( see fact); (verb) Middle English countrefeten, verbal derivative of countrefet
Explanation
A counterfeit is a fake or a forgery. If you painted an uncanny copy of the "Mona Lisa" and tried to pass it off as the original, you'd have a counterfeit on your hands. An exact imitation of anything — a work of art, a ten dollar bill — is a counterfeit, and the act of creating the fake copy is the verb to counterfeit. You can also describe the forgery using the adjective form of counterfeit: a counterfeit Rolex watch. In Old French, the word contre, "counter or against", together with the word faire, "to make," joined together to mean "to make in imitation," which led to our counterfeit.
Vocabulary lists containing counterfeit
Against All Odds: Contra and Counter
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
While Poland remains Europe's leading country for counterfeit cigarette production, Belgium has become a key base for traffickers looking to offload their low-cost products in markets such as Britain and France.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
The department had initially intercepted and inspected the shipment at the port based on a tip received by its counterfeit and piracy enforcement team, the department said in the release.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Trading-card grading volume is growing year over year, hitting a record high this April, and so is counterfeit activity.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026
Enright says counterfeit devices are a bigger problem outside of the U.S., and that the scheme is typically to make a quick buck off the initial sale, not to hack the buyer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Barnum's "mermaid" is a total fake, a counterfeit fossil pasted together from bones, withered skins, and who knows what else.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
As Murano island’s glass factories face exorbitant energy costs, a shrinking pool of skilled apprentices and competition from counterfeits, the Seguso brand remains one of the last practitioners of the art form.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
The judge accepted that Crowley had inherited the statues from his grandfather and did not at any point believe that they were counterfeits.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Chap Achen, senior director analyst at research firm Gartner, said fraudsters are taking advantage of those policies to scam the system, including by sending back empty boxes, incorrect merchandise or counterfeits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Rolex looked at the multibillion-dollar annual trade in its secondhand watches, which is rife with counterfeits and speculators, and decided it had to intervene.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
It welcomes the gentle missionary of humor, and for lack of him it often accepts those dreary counterfeits who commit assault and battery upon our mother-tongue.
From A Breeze from the Woods, 2nd Ed. by William Chauncey Bartlett
The Chinese company, DTN Airbag, has said it doesn’t do business with customers in the U.S. and that it believes the company’s parts have been counterfeited.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
The 48-year-old author even took to Instagram this week to warn her fans that counterfeited copies, external of The Polygamist were being sold in a bookshop in Nairobi.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
But Leas sees these documents as mostly marketing, and these reports can be counterfeited.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2024
“Checks are more vulnerable than other payment methods to being compromised, counterfeited or stolen.”
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
Each flower was made of glass or crystal, spun or carved, he could not tell: they counterfeited life perfectly.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
The Bank the move was primarily to stop counterfeiting so all images need to be replaced on banknotes over time.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
In 1888, in an effort to stem counterfeiting of their travel trunks, Louis Vuitton and his son, Georges, introduced the Damier “checkerboard” pattern, in distinctive shades of taupe and chocolate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
“It looks like the company’s seemingly blatant attempts at counterfeiting patented weight-loss drugs via compounding finally went too far,” said On the Street Substack author Herb Greenberg.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026
Both men were charged with "counterfeiting medicines or medical products", and the 26-year-old also faces money-laundering charges.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
The figures around me weren't people, but shop dummies, painted to resemble people and propped up in attitudes counterfeiting life.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
